Throughout May, IGN is taking a look at games set to appear at E3 2011, from June 6-9. We'll let you know what to expect and what we hope to learn about these games at this year's show. Will we see Gears of War 3's single player? Will Sonic Generations be... good? We'll answer as best we can amidst publishers' E3 secret planning.
What We Know
Not a lot of details are known about X-Men: Destiny. We know that Silicon Knights, the team behind Too Human and Eternal Darkness is the developer...
The latest screenshots of Silicon Knights' X-Men Destiny show off some new mutant abiilities, including some kind of earth-shaking punch, rock arms (identified as "density control") and ... some blue sparkles or something.
They're modeled by "Grant," a college kid who just wants to play for Berkeley's "Varsity Squad" but instead finds himself destined to have awesome superpowers. Looks like he's going to skip the Varsity Squad and go straight into the Major Leagues of beating up henchmen. The perks of this new lifestyle include a private jet and being called "bub."
#mutantleague
Joining Aimi Yoshida as one of three new mutant characters in Silicon Knights' X-Men: Destiny, Grant is a jock hailing from Georgia whose only ambition is to become a football hero. He gets it half-right. More »
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
In X-Men Destiny, players control the fate of one of three brand-new mutant characters forced to choose between saving humanity or ensuring its destruction. The branching storyline, penned by acclaimed Marvel writer Mike Carey, features a deep element of choice, allowing players to customize the path, powers and development of their character and [...]
With the world again at risk due to the strain between humans and mutants, one of the new characters from X-Men: Destiny is revealed today.
Grant Alexander, from Sandersville, Georgia, is an American Football enthusiast who travels to San Fransisco hoping to land a starting spot for the University of California, Berkeley, Varsity Squad. Grant is [...]
During GDC this past March, I met with Silicon Knights head honcho Denis Dyack under the condition that he wouldn't be discussing the studio's upcoming action-RPG, X-Men Destiny (pictured above). The game is slated for release this year, yet we know relatively little about it -- and we've seen even less. Save for OXM UK, no outlet has published a preview (nor been offered one, as far as I know).
I asked Dyack about his outspoken views against the preview process. "In my view, the ultimate model requires our industry to not show games until they are ready," he told me, echoing his past sentiments. "I'm not saying get rid of previews, because previews are a good thing," he clarified. "What I am suggesting is that our industry should not do previews until the game's completed."
During the Game Developers Conference nearly two months ago, Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack met with me in a hotel overlooking that week's event at the Moscone Center. He wasn't there to show off his studio's next game -- X-Men: Destiny -- to press, but for unspecified "meetings" with unnamed folks. Spooky.
And while we touched on the subject of XM:D during the half hour, the first questions I had for Dyack were about his studio's last major release, Too Human. Primary among them: Is the Too Human trilogy dead? "No, not at all," Dyack told me. "It is still on the table and we do plan on finishing the trilogy."
When it came to other questions about Too Human, however, Dyack was far more verbose. With the intention of setting the record straight, as it were, Dyack outright denies that Too Human was in development for 10 years. "It is true that an earlier version of the general 'Too Human' concept was first shown on the PlayStation in 1998, but that was a completely different game than what was released on the Xbox 360," he said. "Among other things, the original concept was a single-player, third-person action/adventure game based on a detective called John Franks trying to discover who had killed his partner." It's a far cry from the Norse mythology-based dungeon crawler we played in 2008.
Aimi Yoshida is an all-new mutant created for X-Men Destiny by developer Silicon Knights. According to her bio, she "feels only the bitterness and anger of abandonment." She also feels the need to dress like Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill. See what we mean in these new screens.
#activision
The last time we got a look at X-Men Destiny, the merry mutant adventure from the House of Ideas and Silicon Knights, we cooled to its look and feel. But our latest peek at the game and new X-character Aimi Yoshida has us warming up to Activision's latest. More »
Character Bio: Aimi Yoshida
Age: 15
Height: 5’ 1’’
Weight: 95lbs
Character Description
Balance Summary: Small in size but strong in mental focus, Aimi is the mutant ability expert. She specializes in efficient mutant power usage. Aimi’s fighting style is very acrobatic and graceful.
Back story: Smuggled out of Japan by her mutant parents before the entire family [...]
We got a bit of background information on Silicon Knights' upcoming Marvel Comics RPG, X-Men: Destiny, last week via OXM UK -- now what are said (and appear) to be screenshots from the game have made their way online. Gamekyo has the shots at the source link, which originated from a slideshow which can still be found on YouTube (until Activision has it pulled, at least).
We can't image this is the first impression of the game its developer or publisher would like the public to have; it just frankly doesn't look very good at all. Then there's what appears to be one of the new characters created specifically for players to control. He apparently has the mutant ability to look like a model for Ed Hardy. Hopefully the official reveal will cast the game in a better light -- and reveal a better cast.
#siliconknights
The people who made games Too Human and Eternal Darkness are now making an X-Men adventure for Activision, a game that lets players mold their own mutant. This is what that game, X-Men Destiny, is looking like right now. More »
The latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine UK contains the first in-depth preview of Silicon Knights' X-Men Destiny, as summarized by affiliate CVG, and would seem to confirm the game for Xbox 360 (though the game's official target platforms remain unannounced). The article reveals that the game will emphasize the "tough decisions that an average X-Man has to make" and will feature a darker tone than some past takes on the X-Men. Destiny is said to unfold when anti-mutant sentiment is at an all-time high, with mutant hate crimes an everyday occurrence. The X-Men have suffered some kind of loss, pushing players toward pivotal "decision moments" in the game.
Players will select from three different characters, according to the OXM preview, each a child of a "human zealot," one of the card-carrying members of the anti-mutant establishment. Memorable mutants will make appearances -- Gambit, Magneto, Quicksilver and Surge are mentioned by OXM -- along with an X-Gene upgrade system through which players can modify their unique powers by borrowing genes from other mutants. Apparently splicing isn't as big a deal in the Marvel Universe as it is in other places.
The full, four-page preview is featured in issue 69 of OXM UK.
- focus on “tough decisions that an average X-Man has to make”
- takes place during a time when anti-mutant sentiment is at an all time high
- the X-Men have recently suffered a devastating loss
- take control of the child of a “human zealot” who considers mutants to be “nature’s greatest mistake”
- choice of three different [...]
#marvelcomincs
This new trailer for fall 2011's X-Men Destiny keeps hammering away at one point: as a virtual X-Man, we will be able to choose our destiny in Destiny. That sure makes it sound like this game's a role-playing game. More »
When will you get to see Silicon Knights' X-Men Destiny in action? We just don't know. You can, however, watch this total teaser for it from the latest episode of GTTV. We're hoping that the X-Men among you will dissect the trailer and let us know of any interesting tidbits in the comments below.
#activision
Silicon Knights, the Canadian studio famous for its work on Too Human, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Eternal Darkness, is the studio behind Activision's recently announced game for Marvel, X-Men Destiny. More »
